Following various claims by Prime Minister Scott Morrison over recent months that it is “not a race” against the rest of the world to get a vaccine, pressure is mounting to keep borders open, with Melbourne entering a fourth lockdown.
The opposition were on the offensive, blaming the government’s failed quarantine facilities and slow vaccine rollout as being the catalyst for Melbourne’s current predicament.
“The truth is that every failure of hotel quarantine has significant consequences for our community, for people’s health and for our national economy. And that’s why we need to get this right,” Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese said.
Repeated outbreaks from hotel quarantine have made it impossible for Australia to remain open, with the recent lockdown of Melbourne expected to cost the city over $1 billion.
With just around 2.0 per cent of the national population receiving both jabs and 20 per cent receiving one vaccine shot, Qantas is looking to do the hard lifting itself.
Namely, hoping to do what the government can’t and keep borders open, Qantas CEO Alan Joyce has announced various prizes for those who get a vaccination, including frequent flyer points, flight vouchers and a major prize of free flights for a year for 10 eligible families.
Speaking on Sunrise, Mr Joyce said he would reward Australians who get both shots of either AstraZeneca or Pfizer due to the airlines’ need to keep borders open.
“We are very keen to do our bit to help with the rollout for the COVID-19 vaccine. We would be rolling it out in July,” he said.
“We have 6,000 of our people stood down that are working on international flights, and they will be stood down until we have the international borders reopened.”
Mr Joyce highlighted that Qantas’ incentives for vaccination would be rolled out from July once the technology was ready, with participants required to upload the airline’s app to take part.
The 10 families – with at least one coming from every state and territory – that win the prize would be eligible for free flights in 2022.
He also announced various other incentives for travellers including frequent flyer points, a travel credit and a partnership with Accor Hotels for up to 1 million Accor points.
While short on the details on what would be decided as “proof” that Qantas would seek from participants in return for the incentives, the CEO did explain the offer would be retrospective, meaning the 2.5 per cent of the population who have already rolled up their sleeves would be eligible.
The airline last year announced that it will require all passengers to be vaccinated when it restarts international flights beyond New Zealand.
